For the past 25 years I have been creating a laboratory to use the laser to teach hands-on techniques of studying the atom, and including the nucleus in interpretation. Experiments have been developed around the following lasers: solid-state tunable diode lasers, HeNe lasers, nitrogen laser, carbon dioxide laser, and ruby laser. The lasers employed have been a combination of commercial and shop-built instruments. Studies with the lasers emphasize their history and development, the doublets and hyperfine structure of Cs, K, and Rb, the acousto-optic effect, bond strength of the iodine molecule, the nitrogen-pumped dye laser, Raman Effect, frequency doubling, and the stable isotopes of Kr. Building the tunable diode laser and detectors, the use of the wavemeter, CCD camera, and miniature digital spectrometer will be discussed.